Liv. 22.4.1Hannibal quod agrī est inter Cortōnam urbem Trasumennumque lacum omnī clāde bellī pervastat, quō magis īram hostī ad vindicandās sociōrum iniūriās acuat.Hannibal lays waste with every calamity of war the land between the city of Cortona and Lake Trasimene, to sharpen the enemy's anger the more to avenge the wrongs done to the allies. Liv. 22.4.2Et iam pervēnerat ad loca nāta īnsidiīs, ubi maximē montēs Cortōnēnsēs Trasumennus subit.And now he had reached a place made by nature for an ambush, where Lake Trasimene comes closest beneath the hills of Cortona. Liv. 22.4.2Via tantum interest perangusta, velut ad id ipsum dē industriā relictō spatiō;Between them lies only a very narrow road, as if room had been left on purpose for this very thing; Liv. 22.4.2deinde paulō lātior patēscit campus;then a somewhat wider plain opens out; Liv. 22.4.2inde collēs adsurgunt.beyond it hills rise up. Liv. 22.4.3Ibi castra in apertō locat, ubi ipse cum Āfrīs modo Hispānīsque cōnsīderet;There he pitches a camp in the open, where he himself, with the Africans and Spaniards only, might take up position; Liv. 22.4.3Baliārēs cēteramque levem armātūram post montīs circumdūcit;the Balearians and the rest of the light-armed troops he leads round behind the hills; Liv. 22.4.3equitēs ad ipsās faucēs saltūs tumulīs aptē tegentibus locat, ut, ubi intrāssent Rōmānī, obiectō equitātū clausa omnia lacū ac montibus essent.the cavalry he posts at the very entrance of the pass, where hillocks conveniently concealed them, so that, when the Romans had entered, with the cavalry thrown across their path, everything would be shut in by the lake and the mountains.
Liv. 22.4.4Flāminius cum prīdiē sōlis occāsū ad lacum pervēnisset, inexplōrātō posterō diē vixdum satis certā lūce angustiīs superātīs, postquam in patentiōrem campum pandī agmen coepit, id tantum hostium, quod ex adversō erat, cōnspēxit;Flaminius, having reached the lake at sunset the day before, on the next day, without reconnoitring, when the light was scarcely yet clear enough, passed through the narrows, and after the column began to spread out into the more open plain, caught sight only of that part of the enemy that was facing him; Liv. 22.4.4ab tergō ac super caput haud dētēctae īnsidiae.the ambush behind him and above his head went undetected. Liv. 22.4.5Poenus ubi, id quod petierat, clausum lacū ac montibus et circumfūsum suīs cōpiīs habuit hostem, signum omnibus dat simul invādendī.When the Carthaginian had what he had aimed at, the enemy shut in by the lake and the mountains and surrounded by his forces, he gives all of them the signal to attack together. Liv. 22.4.6Quī ubi, quā cuique proximum fuit, dēcucurrērunt, eō magis Rōmānīs subita atque inprōvīsa rēs fuit, quod orta ex lacū nebula campō quam montibus dēnsior sēderat, agminaque hostium ex plūribus collibus ipsa inter sē satis cōnspecta eōque magis pariter dēcucurrerant.When they had run down, each by the way nearest to him, the event was all the more sudden and unexpected for the Romans, because a mist rising from the lake had settled thicker on the plain than on the mountains, and the enemy columns, being quite visible to one another from the many hills, had run down all the more simultaneously.
Liv. 22.4.7Rōmānus clamōre prius undique ortō quam satis cerneret, sē circumventum esse sēnsit, et ante in frontem lateraque pugnārī coeptum est, quam satis īnstruerētur aciēs aut expedīrī arma stringīque gladiī possent.The Roman realised that he was surrounded from the shouting that arose on every side before he could see clearly, and fighting began on his front and flanks before the line could be properly drawn up or arms got ready and swords drawn.